Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on Thursday that he ran “excellent” tests of new intercontinental ballistic missiles that can allegedly surpass all existing defense systems.
WATCH:
Putin unveiled a new nuclear missile this morning that he claimed has the longest range of any missile in the world and would render U.S. defense systems “useless.” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert scoffed at Putin’s announcement, calling it “cheesy” and reminding him that U.S. defense capabilities are “second to none.”
In an interview with NBC’s Megyn Kelly, Putin still insisted that he has run “excellent” tests of the new ICBMs and argued that some are even combat-ready.
“As a matter of fact, every single weapons system discussed today easily surpasses and avoids an anti-missile defense system,” Putin said.
“But you’ve tested it?” Kelly asked.
“The test was excellent. Some of them still have to be fine tuned and worked on. Others are already available to the troops and already are battle ready,” he argued. “All of those tests were successful. It’s just each of these weapons systems is at a different stage of readiness. One of them’s already on combat duty. It’s with troops.”